1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera using a plurality of flash devices and to a multiple flash photographing system of the camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known cameras perform multiple flash photographing using a plurality of flashlights or the like (disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. Sho 58-21798, Hei 11-212148, and Sho 57-177132). In the conventional multiple flash photographing, a photometric device meters the flash from a main flash device and a remote flash device. At the metering the main and remote flash devices stop flashing when a photometric value reaches a proper value for properly illuminating a subject. This way of controlling aims to photograph the, subject with a proper exposure.
In the conventional multiple flash photographing, however, it is difficult to determine the respective optimum light amounts of the flashlights in a balanced manner because the illumination amount is controlled for the entire field irrespective of where a main subject is positioned in the field. This problem will be specifically described below with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 shows an example of photometric regions and a focusing screen overlapping with each other.
For example, in a case where a person 62 and a background 63 are illuminated with a main flashlight and the background 63 is also illuminated with a remote flashlight, the effect of illumination which the main flashlight gives to the background 63 varies depending on the distance between the person 62 and the background 63. This makes it necessary for a photographer to re-set the ratio of light amounts of the main flashlight and the remote flashlight according to the distance between the person 62 and the background 63. In particular, if there is a long distance between a main subject and another subject, this may cause a trouble in shooting with a proper exposure.